Rekindle Collaboration Effort Attracts 55 Participants

Sparked last fall as a new initiative, Rekindle has steadily grown with an aim at reigniting the call for credit unions to collaborate to solve problems, its organizers said.

The brainchild of Lonny Maurer, president/CEO of the $387 million Belco Community CU in Harrisburg, Pa., Rekindle was built around the principle that credit unions are stronger together than apart.

To further develop the concept into a scalable collaborative framework, Mid-Atlantic Corporate FCU assumed a leadership role in the initiative. Currently some 55 credit unions have joined the movement.

“Whether it’s driving down redundant system costs or sharing staff expertise, our movement has always been at its best when we collaborate. And today – with a growing regulatory burden, ever-thinner margins and fierce competition from the banking sector – it’s past time to reignite the cooperation that made our movement strong,” said Jay Murray, president/CEO of Mid-Atlantic Corporate.

“Nearly everyone we speak with sees value in collaboration. What Rekindle has taught us over the past year is that collaboration –for real impact – requires a great deal of hard work,” Murray said.

To build on its momentum among a group of credit unions in the mid-Atlantic states, Rekindle has launched a website, hosted by Maryland-based CUSO Ongoing Operations, and released the second in a series of animated short films as an early step in fostering an online community to complement the growing network of in-person Rekindle regional groups called cells.

The leadership and Virginia cells consist of seven credit unions each, five credit unions make up the Central Pennsylvania cell, 14 in the Norristown, Pa., cell and the Delaware cell boasts some 22 credit unions.